Dick Notmeyer Glossary - danjohn.net

1 dick Notmeyer on Life and Lifting Blue Plate Specials Building the lower back, the spinae erectors, was done on ancient sets of wooden blocks covered in what, at one time, may have been yellow-green shag carpet. Hooking one s ankles under a bar fastened between two wall studs, the athlete positioned the genitals between a space in the blocks. The exercise was the hyperextension, but filled with danger. A small, square bit of pad was placed on the cement floor to prevent head banging. The Blue Plate Specials were pound blue weights which dick would hoist on the upper shoulders and head. Part of the fun of the exercise was holding the weight, doing the hyperextensions and trying not to let the weight smash your forehead between padded cement and blue plate. Doing this exercise to failure has the same meaning as the entrance to Dante s Inferno, Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

2 Those who survived were rewarded with very strong lower backs. Behind the Neck Presses The most complex exercise ever invented is dick Notmeyer s Behind the Neck Presses. We will discuss this in a step by step manner, although it will still not make sense: 1. Place the bar at the end of the bench. Part of the fun of this exercise is loading extra plates. You see, with the bar straddling the bench, adding weight to one side makes the other side flip up. Great fun for the whole family when the bar swings up and careens into a lifting buddy. 2. Sitting on the bench, grip the bar in the snatch grip. 3. Stand up with the bar. Lean back to pull the shoulders back. 4. Dip the bar to the knees, snatch the bar overhead, and sit on the bench. All in one movement, ideally. 5. Begin pressing the bar behind the neck. Get that goofy, hyper-smile grimace you can look at in the mirror.

3 6. On the last rep, let the bar come down and stand up. 7. Gingerly, replace the bar on the bench. 8. Add weight on one side allowing the bar to flip up and hit a training partner. Laugh. Have dick once again explain that you need to keep your hands on the bar when adding weight. 9. Repeat until everyone has been hit by the flipping bar. Arm Work Arm work at the Pacifica Barbell Club involved a highly scientific, and systematic, program of fooling around on the preacher bench. The key was to insure that one s arms were draped over the preacher bench in clear view of the mirror. The athlete begins by squashing his arms across the preacher bench and stating: I wish my arms looked like this. A few meaningless sets of curls with the E-Z curl bar were done. Triceps Work has a famous story, which I doubt is true. In the dark recesses of the gym s history, a young trainer lay on a bench and began doing triceps extensions.

4 Struggling to get those triceps pumped, the lifter tried to bounce the weight, as we often do in Bench Presses. So, he focused at the top of the extension, brought the bar down fast, and attempted to bounce the bar off of his forehead. He succeeded in bouncing the bar, but, for some reason, could not finish the rep. Recent research has deemed that the arm work program to be referred to, in science circles, as screwing around. Ab Work Each day, the various team members and trainers would make the pilgrimage to 790 Moana Way and learn the nuances of the Olympic Lifts. But before going to the platform, one must work one s abs. The ab machine was a standard slant board with a small pole to help one hold steady while getting on and off. dick was the master of ab work. He could do multiple sets with weights held behind his head. Multiple sit up record boards were littered throughout the ab machine area.

5 Very, very few people attempted to break these records. dick Notmeyer on Life and Lifting Bench Press Club The goal of every member of the , whether lifter, thrower, or trainer, was to move up to the next twenty-five pound level on the Bench Press Board. The Board was stricter than any powerlifting meet. 1. No arching, bouncing, wraps, cheating, uneven pressouts, or anything else. 2. Bring the bar down under control, wait, wait, wait, wait, for dick s clap. 3. Press the bar out. 4. If dick wasn t there, it didn t count. The Club started at 200 pounds and moved up in increments of twenty-five pounds. It also included the strange case of the three members of the Red Star Club being all next to each other. The Red Star Club The most exclusive club, and with the least interest in joining it, belonged to the members of the Red Star Club. The members died.

6 The Hangman s Noose Above the platform at the Pacifica Bar Bell Club a hangman s noose greeted every lifter into the gym. This was a lasting reminder of the most famous of the Red Star Club s members, Joe Vega. He had followed dick s advice to the letter, then fell for a woman who liked thin men and dropped all his gains. Then, she dropped him. He decided to start training again. On his last visit, before leaving, he strung the noose. He would die in a pool hall before ever returning. For a few years after Joe s death, dick would hear rustling in the weight room and the clanging of weights. Reg, the dog, would stare into the gym until dick would finally come in and say Joe, I gotta go to work in the morning, cut it out! The gym would quiet. Fun Time Howard Will, the cigar smoking and dry martini swilling health enthusiast, coined this term for the time spent doing squats.

7 Any squatting motion could be included under Fun Time, however, the term is used best when attempting as many squats as possible with bodyweight loaded on the bar. When doing up to fifty reps in this exercise, every rep above thirty is just fun, fun, fun. Really, you should try it. Country Music To insure the highest levels of focus and intensity, dick chose to allow his athletes to listen to Country Music. This insured that no lifter would be caught spending time listening to the music or being unduly sidetracked by a favorite tune. It also allowed group singing of Eddie Arnold s great yodeling ballad, The Lonesome Cattle Call. Cats from all over Pacifica would come to the gym after these sessions. The Incline Perhaps the finest piece of equipment in the gym was the Incline Bench Press. Commercial quality with sturdy foot rests, the incline was used most of the time as a seat.

8 But, if you needed to use it, the incline could be used for training. Widers The Black Widow population of Pacifica seemed centered around the two by fours that housed the gymnasium. Eric Seubert seemed to have a particular aversion to poisonous creatures, so he would occasionally go on Wider hunts with a weightlifting boot and a torch made of paper towels. Safety was not an issue, but the Wider population would drop dramatically. dick Notmeyer on Life and Lifting Clackers (Spelling Unknown) Stupid behaviors including statements, actions, trippings and general stupid behaviors were dealt with by Clackers. The Clacker was a small, pronged bell that would be rung with a chorus of lifters yelling Clackers. Pete Hoffman owns all the gym records for clackering behaviors. Snatch Grip Deadlifts and Shrugs Although nothing unusual, this exercise involved a wide grip deadlift, focusing on pushing the platform away with the legs, not shooting the hips up.

9 After three reps, the athlete finished by making huge circles with the shoulders, the shrugs. To make the lift easier, dick would get into the lifter s line of vision and ask questions, then say you don t know and what do you know? You see, the lifter was making the international sign of I dunno. dick was making a joke. You had to be there. Signing In During each workout, dick (and only dick ) would write the various names of the gym members training that day. The ebb and flow of names provides a short history of the gym and the seriousness of the trainers. Record Board Breaking gym records is not an easy thing to do. The record board was based on weight classes from 1968 and includes Press, Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Squat, Bench and Behind the Neck Press. Record holders include national champions, international competitors and a lot of crazies.

10 The Dessicated Liver and Brewers Yeast Incident Although perhaps not familiar with most club members, in the late Seventies, a serious of terrible smells of toxic proportions nearly leveled the gym. Eric Seubert and Dan John had read that large amounts of Dessicated Liver and Brewers Yeast mimicked anabolic steroids. They ordered two thousand tablets of each and began eating them in handfuls of fifty or more three times a day. What they did not understand was the digestive tract. Yeast and liver merely ferment at these levels, providing an air pocket to grow in the system. This air needs to be released, usually during Front Squats. It was before the era of Hazardous Materials Teams and lives could have been saved with some foresight and planning. Nothing feels as good as a nice snatch Motto of the Sports Palace, the team members would compete for at regional and national events.